Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom is raging mad at Dutch company LeaseWeb for deleting the bulk of files of his shuttered video sharing portal. He described what happened as the largest data massacre in the Internet's history.

LeaseWeb, which hosted Megaupload, said it needed to reprovision the servers since it had to maintain the 630 servers used for the site at its own expense after the January 2012 raids made by U.S. authorities.

"After a year of nobody showing any interest in the servers and the data we considered our options ... we commenced the re-provisioning of the servers in February 2013," LeaseWeb said in a blog post, quoted by BBC.

Mr Dotcom, who is based in New Zealand and fighting extradition proceedings initiated by the U.S., belied LeaseWeb's statement and said that his lawyers asked the Dutch firm several times not to delete the Megaupload service while the court cases are still pending in the U.S.

Mr Dotcom is accused of helping people share music and videos illegally, but he said he is not responsible for what was stored on the Web site which just offered storage service to users.

He insisted that LeaseWeb did not warn him of the planned deletion, but the Dutch company said it informed the Megaupload founder. The firm added the deleted servers are only a small part of those leased by Mr Dotcom to provide storage space for other users.

Mr Dotcom has the support of U.S. Internet rights group who want the Megaupload files kept to allow users to regain access to their photos and videos. The site was used by about 50 million people.

RELATED STORIES